SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PRIVACY PROTECTION IN VIDEO COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS
An image transmission system with privacy protection includes a privacy request processor which receives a request to secure at least one object type in an image prior to transmission of the image to a receiving system. An object detector receives the image data from a camera and processes the image data to identify at least one predetermined object type in the image data. An object scrambler receives a set of protected objects from the privacy request processor and receives the image data with identified objects of the predetermined object type and operates to obscure the image data for any identified objects identified as protected objects prior to encoding and transmission to a remote receiver site.
1 . An image transmission system with privacy protection comprising:
a privacy request processor, the privacy request processor receiving a request to secure at least one object type in an image prior to transmission of the image to a receiving system;
a camera generating image data;
an object detector receiving the image data from the camera and processing the image data to identify at least one predetermined object type in the image data;
an object scrambler, the object scrambler receiving a set of protected objects from the privacy request processor and receiving the image data with identified objects of the predetermined object type, the object scrambler obscuring the image data for any identified objects identified as protected objects; and
an encoder, the encoder receiving the image data with obscured protected objects and generating encoded bitstream therefrom.
2 . The image transmission system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one object type to secure is determined at least in part by the location of the system.
3 . The image transmission system of claim 1 , wherein the privacy request processor has a default set of object types to secure.
4 . The image transmission system of claim 1 , wherein the privacy request processor receives a set of object types to secure from a service provider.
5 . The image transmission system of claim 1 , wherein the encoded bitstream includes parameters related to the applied privacy protection used to obscure the image data.
6 . The image transmission system of claim 5 , wherein the parameters include a flag indicating whether the bitstream provides privacy protection.
7 . The image transmission system of claim 6 , wherein the flag is signaled in one of a picture level, a sub-picture level, a slice level, a sequence level, or a group of frames level.
8 . The image transmission system of claim 5 . wherein the parameters include signaling information in each picture header.
9 . The image transmission system of claim 5 . wherein the parameters are signaled in the supplemental enhancement information (SEI) stream.